{"id":238,"date":"2013-04-08T17:00:12","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T03:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travellingcolognian.wordpress.com\/?p=238"},"modified":"2016-11-17T11:00:57","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T21:00:57","slug":"a-trip-to-the-middle-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travellingcolognian.com\/de\/a-trip-to-the-middle-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"A trip to the Middle Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

China has been on my travel bucket list<\/strong> for several years. For May 2010 I had originally\u00a0 booked a trip called „Essential China“ which would have led me to Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Leshan, on a Yangtze River Cruise, to Yangshuo and to Hongkong but due to some unfortunate reason I had to cancel my trip two months before leaving home. A few months later I did a tour through Yunnan and Tibet instead which was absolutely amazing and one the best trips if not even the best trip I have done so far. Everything great came together. We were a small group of only seven members. My six travelmates came from the Netherlands, Norway and from Canada and were fantastic and Mill, our tour guide from the US, was outstanding. The same goes to our local tibetan guide Jigme who guided us through Tibet and gave us a great impact into his region. The places and sights we have visited were absolutely stunning. After finishing the tour in Kathmandu, Nepal I knew that I want to go back to see more of China.<\/p>\n

And tomorrow I am leaving for the Middle Kingdom to do the trip I had planned to do three years before with only a slightly different itinerary. I would have normally gone in fall 2013 but a few things might change in my life in the second half of 2013 so that April was the only month to go.<\/p>\n

First I flying to Dubai where I’ll spend the night and one full day. The alternative would have been to hang out at Dubai airport for five hours in the middle of the night which is not great fun as it’s a huge, noisy, busy airport with not enough seats for everyone. On the 11th April early in the morning I am flying to Beijing to explore the city for three days on my own before meeting my group of 14 or 15 other, hopefully nice people, in the evening of the 14th April. With them I’ll travel for 21 days to the most important sights of the country till Hongkong where our common trip\u00a0ends on the 4th of May. After that I have three days to discover Hongkong individually before flying to Bangkok and then to Koh Samui for a few days there before going back to Bangkok and flying back home from there.<\/p>\n

I might not be able to blog while in China as several websites, especially blog platforms, are banned in the Middle Kingdom but I’ll make notes about my experiences and post everything once I am back home.<\/p>\n

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And down below is what I am exactly going to do in the following weeks. Just click on the map and you’ll be directed to my map on tripline.net. If you press the „Play“-button you can join me interactively on my trip.\u00a0 The itinerary of my trip is also listed down below the map on tripline.net and here in this blog post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

**************<\/p>\n

\n

China steht schon seit einigen Jahren<\/strong> auf meinem Reisewunschzettel. F\u00fcr Mai 2010 hatte ich urspr\u00fcnglich eine Reise mit dem Namen „Essential China“ gebucht, die mich nach Peking, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Leshan, auf eine Yangtse-Flusskreuzfahrt, nach Yangshuo und nach Hongkong gef\u00fchrt h\u00e4tte, aber aufgrund eines ungl\u00fccklichen Umstandes musste ich die Reise zwei Monate vor dem Abflug stornieren. Stattdessen habe ich ein paar Monate sp\u00e4ter eine Reise durch Yunnan und Tibet gemacht, die absolut fantastisch war, eine der besten, wenn nicht sogar die beste Reise, die ich bisher gemacht habe. Alles Gro\u00dfartige kam zusammen. Wir waren eine kleine Gruppe von nur sieben Teilnehmern. Meine sechs Mitreisenden kamen aus den Niederlanden, Norwegen und aus Kanada und waren fantastisch und Mill, unsere Reiseleiterin aus den USA war hervorragend. Dasselbe gilt f\u00fcr unseren lokalen, tibetischen F\u00fchrer Jigme, der uns durch Tibet f\u00fchrte und uns einen gro\u00dfartigen Einblick in seine Region vermittelte. Die Orte und Sehensw\u00fcrdigkeiten, die wir besucht haben, waren atemberaubend sch\u00f6n. Nachdem ich die Tour in Kathmandu, Nepal beendet hatte, wusste ich, dass ich wieder hinfahren m\u00f6chte um mehr von China zu sehen.<\/p>\n

Und morgen breche ich auf ins Reich der Mitte, um die Reise zu machen, die ich vor drei Jahren machen wollte, mit nur geringf\u00fcgigen \u00c4nderungen im Reiseverlauf. Normalerweise h\u00e4tte ich diese Reise im Herbst 2013 gemacht, aber im zweiten Halbjahr 2013 stehen in meinem Leben einige Ver\u00e4nderungen an, sodass der April der einzige Monat ist, um diese Reise durchzuf\u00fchren.<\/p>\n

Zuerst fliege ich nach Dubai, wo ich eine Nacht und einen kompletten Tag verbringen werde. Die Alternative w\u00e4re gewesen, mitten in der Nacht f\u00fcnf Stunden am Flughafen Dubai rumzuh\u00e4ngen, was kein Spa\u00df ist, da Dubai ein riesiger, lauter, lebhafter Flughafen mit viel zu wenigen Sitzgelegenheiten ist.Am 11. April fliege ich am fr\u00fchen Morgen nach Peking, um die Stadt drei Tage alleine zu erkunden, bevor ich am Abend des 14. Aprils meine Gruppe von 14 oder 15 hoffentlich netten Mitreisenden treffe. Mit ihnen reise ich 21 Tage zu den wichtigsten Sehensw\u00fcrdigkeiten des Landes bis Hongkong, wo unsere gemeinsame Reise am 4. Mai endet. Anschlie\u00dfend habe ich drei Tage Zeit, um mir Hongkong individuell anzuschauen, bevor ich nach Bangkok und dann nach Koh Samui fliege, um dort einige Tage zu verbringen, bevor ich zur\u00fcck nach Bangkok und von dort zur\u00fcck nach Hause fliege.<\/p>\n

M\u00f6glicherweise werde ich in China nicht bloggen k\u00f6nnen, da diverse Internetseiten, insbesondere Blog Plattformen, im Reich der Mitte gesperrt sind, aber ich werde mir Notizen \u00fcber meine Erlebnisse machen und alles posten, wenn ich wieder zuhause bin.<\/p>\n

Und dies ist, was ich in den kommenden Wochen genau machen werde. Einfach auf die Karte klicken und Sie werden\/Ihr werdet auf meine Karte auf tripline.net weitergeleitet. Wenn Ihr\/Sie den „Play“-Button dr\u00fcckt\/dr\u00fccken, k\u00f6nnt Ihr\/k\u00f6nnen Sie mich interaktiv auf meiner Reise begleiten. Der Ablauf meiner Reise ist zus\u00e4tzlich unter der Karte auf tripline.net und hier in meinem Blog aufgelistet.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
The Essence of China<\/a> on Tripline<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The detailed itinerary:<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
9th April 2013: <\/strong>Train Cologne – Frankfurt, Flight Frankfurt – Dubai\/United Arab Emirates in the afternoon, Arrival in the evening<\/div>\n
10th April 2013:<\/strong> Dubai<\/div>\n
11th April 2013:<\/strong> Flight Dubai – Beijing\/China early in the morning, Arrival in the afternoon<\/div>\n
11th till 14th April 2013:<\/strong> Beijing (individually)
\n14th April 2013:<\/strong> Start of Tour „Essential China“ in the evening
\n15th April 2013:<\/strong> Daytrip from Beijing to the Great Wall
\n16th April 2013:<\/strong> Beijing, Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City
\n17th April 2013:<\/strong> Beijing, Overnight Train Beijing – Shanghai
\n18th till 20th April 2013:<\/strong> Shanghai
\n20th April 2013:<\/strong> Shanghai, Overnight Train Shanghai – Xian
\n21st till 23rd April 2013:<\/strong> Xian
\n23rd April 2013:<\/strong> Flight Xian – Chengdu
\n24th April 2013:<\/strong> Chengdu – Panda Research Centre – Emei Shan (Monastery)
\n24th till 26th April 2013:<\/strong> Emei Shan (Monastery)
\n26th April 2013:<\/strong> Emei Shan – Leshan – Chongqing
\n27th April 2013:<\/strong> Chongqing – Wanzhou, Start of Yangtse cruise
\n27th till 29th April 2013:<\/strong> Yangtse cruise
\n29th April 2013:<\/strong> Yichang, End of Cruise – Three Gorges Dam – Wuhan, Overnight train Wuhan – Guilin
\n30th April 2013:<\/strong> Arrival in Guilin early in the morning, Guilin – Yangshuo
\n30th April till 2nd May 2013:<\/strong> Yangshuo
\n2nd May 2013:<\/strong> Yangshuo – Guilin, Overnight Train Guilin – Shenzen
\n3rd May 2013:<\/strong> Arrival in Shenzen early in the morning, Shenzen – Hongkong
\n4th May 2013:<\/strong> Hongkong – End of Tour
\n4th till 7th May 2013:<\/strong> Hongkong (individually)
\n7th May 2013:<\/strong> Flight Hongkong – Bangkok\/Thailand
\n8th May 2013:<\/strong> Flight Bangkok – Koh Samui
\n8th till 12th May 2013:<\/strong> Koh Samui
\n12th May 2013:<\/strong> Flight Koh Samui – Bangkok
\n12th till 14th May 2013:<\/strong> Bangkok
\n15th May 2013:<\/strong> Flight Bangkok – Dubai at 2.40 AM in the morning, Dubai – Frankfurt, Train Frankfurt – Cologne<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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